The Science and Technology Education Innovation Center, formerly known as the Science Center of Pinellas County, is an educational center in

St. Petersburg, Florida St. Petersburg is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 258,308, making it the fifth-most populous city in Florida and the second-largest city in the Tampa Bay Area, after Tampa. It is the ...

, United States. It occupies of land located on 22nd Avenue North, in West St. Petersburg, located near the Tyrone Mall.

History

The Science Center is a non-profit organization founded in St. Petersburg in 1959 by

William Guild William Guild (1586–1657) was a Scottish minister, academic and theological writer. Life He was the second son of Marjorie (born Donaldson) and Matthew Guild, a wealthy armourer and hammerman of Aberdeen, and Deacon of the Guild of Hammerm ...

and Nell Rodgers Croley. It was the first science center of its kind in the world , and it operates on donations and grants. Its mission is to inspire interest in and to promoting the understanding of all sciences. In 1966 the present main building was completed. During the 1960s and early 70s, the center offered after-school and weekend classes for students from Kindergarten through middle school in such subjects as biology, chemistry, electronics and astronautics. Today about 22,000 children visit the building each school year during field trips. The Science Center frequently works with Pinellas County schools, and all summer camp classes and science camps taught at the Science Center meet FCAT guidelines.

Features

Margaret Ewell Dickins Marine Exhibit

In 2000 the Margaret Ewell Dickins Marine Room opened. The exhibit includes numerous aquariums filled with marine creatures such as a

snowflake moray The snowflake moray (''Echidna nebulosa''), also known as the clouded moray among many vernacular names, is a species of marine eel of the family Muraenidae. It has blunt teeth ideal for its diet of crustaceans, a trait it shares with the zebra m ...

and a

black sea bass The black sea bass (''Centropristis striata'') is a species of marine ray-finned fish, a sea bass from the subfamily Serraninae which is part of the family Serranidae, which also includes the groupers and anthias. It is found in the weste ...

. The most popular feature is a 600-gallon touch tank where visitors can touch starfish,

horseshoe crab Horseshoe crabs are marine and brackish water arthropods of the family Limulidae and the only living members of the order Xiphosura. Despite their name, they are not true crabs or crustaceans: they are chelicerates, most closely related to ar ...

guitarfish The guitarfish, also referred to as shovelnose rays, are a family, Rhinobatidae, of rays. The guitarfish are known for an elongated body with a flattened head and trunk and small, ray-like wings. The combined range of the various species is trop ...

slipper lobster Slipper lobsters are a family (Scyllaridae) of about 90 species of achelate crustaceans, in the Decapoda clade Reptantia, found in all warm oceans and seas. They are not true lobsters, but are more closely related to spiny lobsters and furry ...

hermit crab Hermit crabs are anomuran decapod crustaceans of the superfamily Paguroidea that have adapted to occupy empty scavenged mollusc shells to protect their fragile exoskeletons. There are over 800 species of hermit crab, most of which possess an as ...

s and sea urchins. In addition, the Science Center holds marine biology classes for children in this room during science summer camps and school breaks.

Observatory

In 1997, the Carol Samuels Observatory opened. The observatory provides visitors with a view of cosmic events and features through a {{convert, 16, in, mm, adj=on Meade telescope. The research-grade telescope is the only one available to the public in Pinellas County in a non-university setting. The St. Petersburg Astronomy Club holds a handful of events at the Science Center throughout the year, and helps the public use the Meade Telescope to view comets, eclipses, or planets.

White Gardens

The idea for the White Gardens came from Starley M. White, Chairman of the Board of the former

National Bank In banking, the term national bank carries several meanings: * a bank owned by the state * an ordinary private bank which operates nationally (as opposed to regionally or locally or even internationally) * in the United States, an ordinary p ...

. Surrounding the White Gardens is a "Walk of States", a

mosaic A mosaic is a pattern or image made of small regular or irregular pieces of colored stone, glass or ceramic, held in place by plaster/mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and were particularly pop ...

tile walkway made up of more than 50 sections, one section for each state in the United States. A segment of the walk is dedicated to the

Seminole The Seminole are a Native American people who developed in Florida in the 18th century. Today, they live in Oklahoma and Florida, and comprise three federally recognized tribes: the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma, the Seminole Tribe of Florida, ...

tribe and

Andrew Jackson Andrew Jackson (March 15, 1767 – June 8, 1845) was an American lawyer, planter, general, and statesman who served as the seventh president of the United States from 1829 to 1837. Before being elected to the presidency, he gained fame as ...

. Each of the 50 states are displayed in order of their admission into the union. The walkway shows an image of the state, including the state's bird and flower. Beside each state's tile walk the state's rock is on display. The Walk of States was created by

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

artist Attillio Puglisi. It was moved to the Science Center in 1971.

Planetarium

In 1971 the Discovery Center was built. This building houses the Columbia Planetarium. In 2003 the Spirit of Columbia Theater and Planetarium opened. The Planetarium offers a showing daily which is included in the $5 admission fee. The Science Center's digital planetarium is the only one available to the public in Pinellas County. It can show the sky as it was on any specific date in history and when the Center is rented out for birthday parties or anniversaries, it is often set to show the night sky as it appeared the night of the event commemorated.

Optical lab

The Science Center houses the only optical lab for the public to grind

telescope A telescope is a device used to observe distant objects by their emission, absorption, or reflection of electromagnetic radiation. Originally meaning only an optical instrument using lenses, curved mirrors, or a combination of both to observ ...

mirror A mirror or looking glass is an object that reflects an image. Light that bounces off a mirror will show an image of whatever is in front of it, when focused through the lens of the eye or a camera. Mirrors reverse the direction of the im ...

s in the southeastern United States. The lab is operated by the St. Petersburg Astronomy Club. The club welcomes the public to visit the optical lab on Saturdays between 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. to build a homemade telescope from scratch.

Gift shop

A small gift shop features science and space-themed toys which are available to purchase at reasonable prices.

External links

Official websiteOptical lab
Museums in St. Petersburg, Florida Planetaria in the United States Science centers Science museums in Florida